Hey all. I just thought I'd share this little edc/boat knife I made and get some input. I had been reading about how edger blades normally aren't worth using for knife making, so I thought I'd give it a try to see if I could create something above expectations. It's made from a high carbon tool steel edger blade that I formed then heat treated and quenched in a hot salt bath. After cleaning off the scaling, I gave it a convex grind then annealed it to an estimated hardness of HRC-50. I worked the blade by hand starting at 180 grit up to a 400 grit. Then I used some reclaimed Brazilian rosewood that I got from a local marine surplus warehouse, cut it to form fit the profile of the tang, then hand sanded and polished the scales, which I sealed with three coats of Tung oil...buffing between each coat. Epoxied the scales in place, then secure the handle with chromed #8-32 flat head hex bolts. I then hand rubbed the blade over a few days from 500 grit to 1500 grit...finishing with Flitz and a buff wheel. Then made a custom Kydex sheath secured with #6 black eyelets, press fitted and then made a custom molded, removable belt clip secured with Chicago screws allowing for tension adjustments for securing the blade. I danced around with the idea of keeping the arbor hole or not, then just decided to keep it and dress it up with a little custom file work. Not the cleanest file work around, but for this knife it was fine as a start. Final edge with a fine grinding wheel at about 16°. Holds an edge very well and is springy without bending. I'm pretty happy with the results but any input from you guys here is always appreciated.
